"Colin Jost"

The episode opens with the three SmartLess hosts in different locations — Will Arnett in Liverpool doing an event with Tommy Hilfiger, and Sean Hayes recently returned from a successful Off-Broadway run of 'The Unknown,' for which he received an Olivier Award for a previous production 'Goodnight Oscar.' The hosts engage in their typical banter about food, acid reflux, and Sean's eating habits before introducing Colin Jost.

Colin Jost joins from what appears to be his SNL office, complete with asbestos-laden ceilings he has worked under for 15 years. The conversation covers his Staten Island upbringing, including the revelation that he didn't speak until nearly age four, and when he did, he sounded like Carmela Soprano. His mother was chief medical officer at the NYC Fire Department and survived the collapse of the South Tower on 9/11.

Jost describes his unusual educational journey — commuting 1.5 hours each way from Staten Island to Regis High School in Manhattan via bus, ferry, and subway from ages 14 to 18. He then attended Harvard, initially pursuing economics before switching to Russian literature, even achieving fluency in Russian and spending a summer in St. Petersburg.

At Harvard, Jost discovered the Harvard Lampoon, which he credits as the turning point that revealed comedy could be a career. He cold-submitted a writing packet to SNL, got hired at 22 alongside Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, and the Lonely Island guys. He spent about eight years as a writer and head writer before Lorne Michaels called him in and asked if he could do Weekend Update.

Jost candidly discusses how his early run on Weekend Update went poorly — he came in after the beloved Seth Meyers, started with Cecily Strong, and was asked to re-audition for the job he already had after six episodes. He auditioned alongside Leslie Jones, Vanessa Bayer, writer Chris Kelly, and even Anthony Jeselnik was brought in as an outside candidate. Eventually he was paired with Michael Che, and after two shaky years of not knowing if they'd be renewed, things clicked.

A highlight of the conversation is Jost recounting Che's elaborate prank where Che secretly instructed the audience before a live show not to laugh at anything Colin said, resulting in Jost genuinely believing his career was over as four consecutive jokes bombed. Jost also discusses his current impression of Pete Hegseth on SNL's cold open, which he finds nerve-wracking but exciting.

The Staten Island ferry purchase is discussed in detail — Jost texted Pete Davidson when the city auctioned a decommissioned ferry (the JFK ferry he had actually ridden to school), paid $280,000 for it, and has been trying to find a permanent dock for it in Manhattan. Despite jokes about it being a disaster, Jost argues they've made back their investment through events and are close to securing a permanent waterfront spot. His vision is for it to become an accessible middle-class swim club and event space that could seasonally relocate to Miami.

The episode ends with a clip from Pop Culture Jeopardy (coming to Netflix May 11th, Season 2) in which contestants correctly identify Sean Hayes and Will Arnett as SmartLess hosts but incorrectly name Fred Armisen instead of Jason Bateman, to great comedic effect. Jost also mentions his upcoming movie 'The Breadwinner' (May 29th) with Nate Berghetti, in which he plays a territorial stay-at-home dad.